city. 5,000 deaths are confirmed as of yesterday and there are many whose whereabouts are unaccounted for. you are watching nhk world and this is "newsline" for eleven a.m. japan time. friday marks two weeks since the mass i have earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan causing heavy damage to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. workers at the plant have to deal with high radiation levels as efforts to restart cooling systems in the athe reactor

buildings. on thursday, three workers were take on the the hospital after being exposed to a high level of radiation. two of the men could be suffering from so-called beta burns. they are similar to regular burns but it could be several weeks before their severity and complications are known. the workers were standing on a flooded basement floor when they tried to reconnect power lines in the turbine building next to the number three reactor building. the radiation level on the surface of the water was 400 millisieverts. the maximum level of radiation exposure allowed for nuclear plant workers in japan is 100 millisieverts, but a health and labor ministry has recently raised the limit to 250 millisieverts for emergency crews at the fukushima plant. translator: presuming the radiation level will be low enough the night of 24th, the

workers did not realize the changes in their working environment and individual dosimeters alert light came on but they continued their work. we had doubts about good radiation management would be insufficient in order to prevent the injury. we'd like to issue instructions to improve the situation there. >> workers in the plant continue efforts to restart pumps so fresh water can be supplied to reactors and storage pools for spent fuel rods. the agency says a high level of radiation is holding up operations at several places in the plant. tokyo electric power company says it has detected high levels of radioactive substances in the water that the three workers were standing in.

tepco says 3.9 million becquerels of radioactive substances per cubic centimeter were found the basement water. that reading is 10,000 times higher than water inside of a nuclear reactor that is operating it. the company also detected high levels of radioactive materials, including cesium 144 and iodine 131. these substances generate during a nuclear fission inside of a reactor. tepco says number three reactor damage and spent fuel rods may have produced highly are radioactive water. japan's health ministry says radiation above the legal limit has been detected in a vegetable grown in tokyo. this is the first time that radioactive cesium, exceeding the legal limit, has been found a tokyo vegetable. the ministry says the cesium was detected on thursday in a leafy vegetable taken from a field on

wednesday. the vegetable is called komatsuna or japanese mustard and spinach. the radiation was 190 beck quells, exceeding the limit of 500. it was grown at the center and is not sold on the market. the health ministry says that level of radio activity would not have an adverse affect on health, even if the vegetable was eaten. the tokyo metropolitan government had lifted its advisory against giving tap water to infants under the age of 12 months. the level of radioactive substances in tap water decreased to a safe left on thursday morning. tests found radioactive substances exceeding the standard for babies. a tokyo metropolitan government advised people in central and western parts of tokyo that

infants should not drink tap water and that it should not be added to powdered milk. but on thursday morning, the level of iodine, 131 decreased to 79 becquerels peer liter, lower than the 100 safety standard for babies. translator: numbers can always fluctuate but there is no problem with temporarily higher levels if they stay within the legal limits. we will continue to make publicly available the results of the water testing. so i urge the public to stay calm. >> tokyo metropolitan government will gather 240,000 bottles of water to families as some are worried about the health of their babies. radioactive material has been detected in five other prefectures around the fukushima

daiichi nuclear power plant. iodine 131 has been detected at in a substance that is not found nature. they believe it was carried by the wind from the plant to surrounding areas and then washed down in to the area by rain. >> 110 or 20 days the radioactive materials will go to the ocean so much of it will be out of the daily cities of the people. >> professor murano says people should not overrearkt when they see small changes in levels, but he warns that a small radioactive substance is emitted from the nuclear plant, the radioactivity will continue for sometime to come. in south korea, bottled water producers are working full time to meet demand from japan after radioactive substances were detected in tap water. a major beverage maker, based in

seoul says monthly orders from japanese customers have doubled since the march 11th earthquake. the company received more than 100 orders on both wednesday and thursday. the firm says it's diverted products intended for the domestic market to japan and extended production at its plants but still can't meet demand. a similar situation is developing for vegetables due to radiation contamination. frozen vegetable producer in the chinese province of jaijang say orders increased 30% since the earthquake. the producer has increased operating hours and work force to deal with the situation, despite a limited supply of fresh vegetables . police say the number of deaths from the march 11th quake and tsunami has now risen to over 10,000. the national police agency says there are 10,019 confirmed deaths and 17,500 people

missing. the massive amount of debris and blocked roads are hindering the search operation. about 202,000 people are living in emergency facilities around the country. increasing health concerns are being worsened by continuing cold weather. in many of the devastated areas, temperatures dropped below zero on friday morning. nhk surveyed a 255 hospitals in the three worst hit prefectures, miyagi, iwate and fukushima fukushima about their patients' conditions. we learned 56 people have died because they were unable to receive necessary treatment. at many hospitals, medical equipment was destroyed by the quake and cannot be used because of power outages. there's also a shortage of medicine and deliveries have been slow. work to distribute aid and recover the bodies of the victims continues in areas

devastated by the quake and tsunami but such efforts are yet to rooch remote areas located far from the centers. we visited one such place in iwate prefecture. translator: this is four kilometers from the center of kanashi city. people are living in a small community in the mountains. authorities still do not know about the existence of such people and aid has been very slow in reaching them. the sdf has only delivered to them very small amounts of food. this woman says she has picked up what she found among the debris. they are trying to supplement their supplies with food they have found among the debris.

in order to survive the cold, they built a bathtub from pieces of debris and broken buildings. what are you burning? translator: the fuel is the remainders of my house that was washed away by the tsunami. he says it feels pathetic. this this district, more than 80 people are still unaccounted for. the self defense forces are mainly searching the areas in the central part of town. so the residents are looking for bodies on their own. this man says that there are still many people missing from this community, and they want to find as many bodies as possible

on their own. this man says the municipal and prefectural government and the self defense forces, they don't help them at all. on this day, they found the body of a woman from under the rubble. this resident says that he has no words to speak. the road leading to the central part of town is still buried in debris. the residents themselves are trying to clear the road. this resident says that they have one more piece of heavy equipment, but they have not enough fuel to run the machinery. so their work is very slow. he doesn't know how long they can last. it is two weeks since the great earthquake hit and in the

outlying villages, people are still waiting for help. >> many survivors of the quake and tsunami lost their homes and cars. and for many who ran businesses in the affected areas, nothing remains of their offices and assets, leaving them unable to pay the salaries of employees. next we meet a lawyer who's donating his time to help people who have lost so much. >> this is mr. yasuo onodera who is practicing in miyagi prefecture. he has decided to provide free legal advice to those who have been affected by the crisis and this man has entrusted his car to a dealer. however, the car has been washed away. and he asks whether he can seek compensation from the dealer.

the lawyer says this is a natural disaster and therefore they make the assumption it is a force of nature however, let us try to file for such a complaint. however, it will take some time. this area has been affected by the quake and tsunami and also fire. this is the town of kes that city. 5,000 deaths are confirmed as of yesterday and there are many whose whereabouts are unaccounted for. 25 years ago, he has practiced law. when the tsunami struck he was in another town and he was saved. however his office, two kilometer from the sign has been devastated. the first floor has been flooded and important documents have been washed away.

all the pcs are no longer working and most likely the data on the pcs cannot be accessed. for the time being, he felt that he could not work. however, on a day after the catastrophe, people sought legal advice of him and he decided to, again, resume his practice. the person who sought advice was about payment for his employees and the person who sought legal advice was personally facing his own problems. however, he needed advice in order to help his employees and unless appropriate advice is offered there would be chaos. he has rented out a space from

the commercial -- from a local cham p chamber of commerce and energy. about 30 people have sought advice of him until yesterday. this is mr. chiba who operates a family business and because of the catastrophe, the office has been demolished. he has lost a way for livelihood, and they are lost as to what to do. mr. onoda has a legal expert has decided to alleviate the concerns of those seeking advice. >> mr. chiba says he is concerned about how to make payment and many mr. onona says realistically there cannot be time and for the payment we have to wait until there are legal

frame work established by the parliament. ann and therefore he tells mr. chiba to think of protecting himself, his family and if there are further concerns, he says he is always available. and mr. chiba says he feels that there's a heavy weight that has been lifted off of his shoulders and the family decides to work together to overcome the difficult situation. mr. onodera says it is very difficult for those who are affected to practice calmness in making judgment and therefore it is important to help in sound judgment and he believes what he can do now is to provide free legal advice so that he is at least able to provide a glimmer

of hope. over to the world of business now. let's go to shery ahn. >> thanks. it is two weeks since the earthquake and tsunami hit northeast japan, and the aftershocks are spreading worldwide to the auto and electronics industries. firms overseas are having to scale back production due to a disruption in zehme supplies of semi conducts and high-tech parts from japan's disaster area. u.s. automaker general motors says its assembly plant in louisiana has not been operating since monday. the firm has not been able to get sufficient parts from japan. gm says it hopes to resume operations as soon as possible. openle, a company within the gm group says it has temporarily halted production at its factories in germany and spain. swedish tell 0 com equipment maker ericsson has expressed concern about the availability of japanese parts and says it will consider sourcing from

suppliers. finnish cell phone maker nokia says a lack of japanese components may affect the outpouft its products. another problem for toke yees shell shocked consumers. soon after the quake, shelves run out of milk and then there was a run on bottled water and now a shortage of eggs is driving up prices. farmers say it will take some time before supplies return to normal. metropolitan tokyo get most of its eggs from northeastern japan. at this store in tokyo, eggs cost 40% more than before the quake. customers are limited to one pack each. it's a problem. we eat eggs every day. eggs are more value able now. i guess we have to pay more for them. >> reporter: this farm in northern japan has 360,000 chickens, producing eggs destined for tokyo and surrounding areas.

owner ken sasaki says egg production has fallen by more than 30%. the reason, chicken feed is an extremely short supply. his flock requires more than 30 tons a day, but since the quake feed has been hard to come by. translator: almost all of our feed is imported. most of it is transported here by ship, but our ports were badly damaged. >> reporter: this feed producer near the farm was seriously damaged by the tsunami. the complex was supplying 1.8 million tons of livestock feed each year. the operators say it will take nearly one month to resume

regular production. the feed shortage forced him to call 30,000 chickens last week. he is trying desperately to find an alternative supply of sustenance for his birds. >> we'll call you as soon as we find a truck. can you do what you can to arrange the shipment for us? >> reporter: on this day, he finally received word from a nearby agricultural co-op that has agreed to sell him old rice . >> we need to get food for our birds. otherwise they won't survive the next couple of months. this is an emergency. i'll do anything. all i can think of is how to keep our chickens alive. >> the feed complex has the third largest capacity in japan. before the quake it was supplying almost all poultry farms the northern tohoku region. their ordered some ship s but it

is not known when regular shipments in the region will resume. share prices were higherer in tokyo on friday morning. the nikkei index gained 1% or 94 points to end the morning session at 9,529. sources say investors bought leading issues such as sony as market sentiment improved after overnight gains in new york. buying momentum remains slow as investors are waiting to see the impact of the nuclear crisis and the rotating blackout measures in japan's economy. and now to currencies on the tokyo foreign exchange. the dollar and euro are moving within a narrow range against the yen on friday morning. the green back is at 80.98-02. and the euro is 114.79-83. standard & poors downgraded portugal's government bonds but the impact of the rating cut was

limited as market players had largely anticipated the move. here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. in other asian markets, hang seng is up by .8%. the key index for major blue chips is up by .8% and the sse composite is up by .4%. and that's all for now in biz. back to you. >> thank you. in other news, the u.s. geological service says a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck myanmar here the thai boerd on thursday night. at least one person has been killed. the quake hit at 1:55 p.m. utc on thursday. the depth of the epicenter was ten kilometers. it shook buildings as far as bangkok, no tsunami was

generated. local police in thailand say a woman in the area died when a brick wall collapsed on her. no other deaths or injuries have been reported. in libya, coalition forces have secured a no-fly zone over almost all of the country but have so far failed to stop attacks by government forces on the opposition and civilians. the multinational forces, lead by france, britain and the united states continue to launch air raids on the military units and installations of gadhafi. early on thursday, the jet fighters bombarded pro gadhafi forces laying siege to mizrata, a stronghold around the government fighters. pro-gadhafi troops advanced to the city center and continued to fire on civilians. the opposition says at least three civilians were killed on thursday and a death toll of

noncombat tonights exceeds 100. contacted by nhk on the phone, a spokesman for opposition forces in mizrata called on the international coalition to target pro gadhafi troops that are advancing to the city and are shooting civilians. a coalition has refrained from bombing cities to avoid civilian casualties. they face a challenge of stopping government troops from waging attacks in city centers. on thursday, the russian presidential office medvedev held a conference with barack obama. it says he stressed the necessity of avoiding civilian casualties. russian leaders have been critical of the western offensive in libya. hi there. let's look at the conditions across japan. we still have a lot of cold air in place, keeping the temperatures low across many

areas. central and northern areas of japan throughout the day and in to saturday, we are looking at a lot of precipitation to form across the country starting to see rain out to the west. we will also see significant snow throughout the country along the sea of japan central portions as in the mountains and tohoku, you need to brace yourself. widespread heavy snow to occur starting tonight. we could see snow as early as today, noon i should say in iwate and then across miyagi and fukushima this afternoon. the snow developing here and that's going to be becoming quite widespread by tonight, 9:00. and then it will continue throughout the night in to your saturday morning. we are talking quite a bit of snow to occur during the overnight hours. winds will be pretty strong as well as we head in to your saturday.

we are looking at maximum wind speeds of 58 kilometers per hour to affect the eastern side of tohoku and it will be impacting coastal areas with high waves as well. do watch for drifting blowing snow in the area. then taking a look at the detailed forecast over the next couple of days, we are looking at a good chance of snow in miyako this afternoon. seven degrees for the daytime high. perhaps some showers in sendai as well and then showers in onahama. as we head in to saturday, things are looking much calmer in onahama. and miyako looking at the snow to continue in to saturday morning and temperatures remaining on the cold side again. zero for the overnight hours and only four degrees on saturday daytime, as you can see. so chilly throughout the region as well. you can see many areas the daytime highs will be below the seasonal averages. ail mori reaching three degrees

and five in akita . tokyo on the cool side too. fukushima nine degrees and onahama at nine. that's what is going on right now. and here's the extended forecast. our top story once again, the friday marks two weeks since the massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan causing heavy damage to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. workers at the plan have to deal with high radiation levels as efforts continue to restart dool

cooling systems in the reactor buildings. on thursday, three workers were taken to hospital after being exposed to high level of radiation. two of the men could be